Here is my sweater before washing it. My concerns stand out like a sore thumb in the picture! You can definatley tell I am still a new knitter.

Wow, Melinda--I look at how even your stitches are, how your raglan stitching looks so perfect, just while you consider yourself a new knitter, when I've never even tried a sweater in the 10 years or so I've been knitting and think, "Golly!I wish I could do this!"
I see you haven't posted here in a month or more--could it be that you're just tired in general, and need some time to regroup and then, get back into this great knitting you are doing?
I don't have any idea whether this may apply to you, because I don't know you---but when I can't buy nice knitting yarn, because of our budget, and I see so many patterns I want to try, but don't feel they'd look even half-way nice because of that fact, I find myself just putting my needles down. Then, I'll pull out some cotton and I'll do some dishcloths with different patterns so that I can try at least something different. No, it doesn't mean I'm able to afford the yarn I want, but it sort of keeps me in the "knitting loop" without completely feeling like I've "died on the vine."
Hope you're still doing something--anything--crafty.